The
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an
American aircraft manufacturer.
History
Sikorsky was founded in 1925 by aircraft engineer
Igor Sikorsky, a
Kiev-born American immigrant.
[. Sikorsky Aircraft, accessed 10 May 2008.] The company, named "Sikorsky Manufacturing Company", began aircraft production in
Roosevelt, New York that year. In 1929 the company moved to
Stratford, Connecticut. It became a part of United Aircraft and Transport (now
United Technologies Corporation) in July of that year.
Igor Sikorsky developed the first stable, single-rotor, fully-controllable
helicopter to enter large full-scale production in 1942, upon which the majority of subsequent helicopters were based (though he did not invent the helicopter itself).
Sikorsky Aircraft remains one of the leading helicopter manufacturers, producing such well-known models as the
UH-60 Black Hawk and
SH-60 Seahawk, as well as experimental types like the
Sikorsky X-Wing. It is a leading defense contractor. Until recently, Sikorsky has supplied the helicopter of the
President of the United States,
Marine One since 1957. In January 2005, the U.S. government selected Lockheed Martin's
AgustaWestland AW101-based entry (
VH-71 Kestrel) over a S-92 variant as the replacement to the current Marine One aircraft. Sikorsky's VH-3 (
SH-3 Sea King) and VH-60 (
UH-60 Black Hawk) currently perform this role.
The company also acquired Helicopter Support Inc. (H.S.I) in 1998. This company handles all the after-market support for the Sikorsky product.
UTC acquired
Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in 2004, which now operates as a subsidiary of Sikorsky. The product lines of the two firms are complementary, and have very little overlap, as Sikorsky primarily concentrates on medium and large helicopters, while Schweizer produces small helicopters,
UAVs,
gliders, and light planes. The Schweizer deal was signed on
August 26,
2004, exactly one week to the day after the death of
Paul Schweizer, the company's founder and majority owner.
In late 2005, Sikorsky completed the purchase of Keystone Helicopter Corporation, located in
Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Keystone had been maintaining and completing Sikorsky S-76 and S-92 helicopters prior to the sale.
In 2007, Sikorsky opened the Hawk Works, a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center (RPMDCC) located west of the
Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in
Big Flats, New York.
Sikorsky's main plant and administrative offices are located in
Stratford, Connecticut. Other Sikorsky facilities are in
Shelton, and
Bridgeport, Connecticut;
Fort Worth, Texas;
West Palm Beach, Florida; and
Troy, Alabama. Other Sikorsky-owned subsidiaries are in
Trumbull, Connecticut; Coatesville, Pennsylvania; and
Grand Prairie, Texas; among others around the world.
In February 2009,
Sikorsky Global Helicopters was created as a business unit of Sikorsky Aircraft to focus on the construction and marketing of commercial helicopters.
[Sikorsky Press Release, 23 February 2009] The business unit combines the main civil helicopters that were produced by Sikorsky Aircraft and the helicopter business of
Schweizer Aircraft that Sikorsky has acquired in 2004.
It is based at
Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
Aircraft products
Sikorsky designates nearly all of its models with S-numbers; numbers S-1 through S-20 were designed by Igor Sikorsky in Russia (see
Igor Sikorsky). Later models, especially helicopters, received multiple designations by the military services using them, often depending on purpose (UH, SH, and MH for instance), even if the physical craft had only minor variations in equipment. In some cases, the aircraft were returned to Sikorsky or to another manufacturer and additionally modified, resulting in still further variants on the same basic model number.
Airplanes
- Sikorsky S-36: eight-seat two-engine flying boat "Amphibion" (1927)
- Sikorsky S-38: eight-seat two-engine boat flying boat (USN PS) (1928–1933)
- Sikorsky S-39: five-seat single-engine variant of S-38 (1929–1932)
- Sikorsky S-40: "Flying Forest" four-engine 28-passenger flying boat (1931)
- Sikorsky S-43: "Baby Clipper" twin-engine amphibious flying boat (1935–1937) (Army OA-1, USN JRS-1)
Helicopters
- Sikorsky S-48 (R-5/H-5): helicopter designed with higher load, endurance, speed, and service ceiling than the R-4 (1943)
- Sikorsky S-51: Larger, civil H-5. World's second certified commercial helicopter (1946)
- Sikorsky S-52 (H-18/HO5S): helicopter with all-metal rotors (1947)
- Sikorsky S-58: Eighteen passenger utility helicopter, larger more advanced than the S-55.Also available in ASW, VIP versions (1954)
- Sikorsky S-59 (XH-39): 2 H-18s converted to use one turboshaft engine (1953)
- Sikorsky S-60: prototype "flying crane" helicopter, crashed 1961 (1959)
- Sikorsky S-61R: redesigned S-61 with rear cargo ramp; CH-3, HH-3 "Jolly Green Giant", and HH-3F Pelican (1963)
- Sikorsky S-65: CH-53 Sea Stallion medium/heavy lift helicopter (1964)
- Sikorsky S-69: prototype with contra-rotating co-axial rotors, twin conventional tail (1973)
- Sikorsky S-75: Advanced Composite Airframe Program (ACAP) all-composite proof of concept helicopter (1984)
- Sikorsky S-80: CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter (1974)
- Sikorsky X2: concept demonstrator with twin, contra-rotating rotors and a pusher prop.
Other Aircraft
Gallery
See also
